Rural forum to hear of significant gaps in women's care

A healthy woman makes for a healthy nation. That’s the simple message rural women’s health advocates hope is heard at a national roundtable on Tuesday, which is examining access to care outside Australia’s capital cities. «There’s good global evidence that if you look after women’s health, the family gets looked after and the nation gets looked after,» Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists board member Judith Gardiner said. «There’s no doubt that if you have a healthy mum, healthy children and good education, that’s good for overall society. Societies where that’s suppressed don’t do so well. «We’re people — it’s important that we have equity of access.» The college’s forum in Melbourne will hear results of research mapping rural health providers, after a pilot study in Western Australia showed limited access to midwifery group practice and post-natal care across the nation’s largest country health service. State and federal rural health inquiries have heard decades of centralising maternity units means women often travel hours for basic care, some have babies on the side of the road and others temporarily move to a city to ensure safe childbirth. Dr Gardiner said mapping would likely show a significant lack of services not just in rural and remote areas, but in larger regional centres. «Abortion, contraception, menopause, syair hk endometriosis; all those specialised services are going to be set up in the city,» she said. «No one’s talking about setting them up in country areas where they are probably needed more.» The roundtable will hear from Rural Health Commissioner Ruth Stewart, obstetricians and GPs on improving education and training in rural areas to boost the number of doctors in the bush. College president Benjamin Bopp said there had long been high numbers of medical graduates, but exposure to rural areas during training was limited. «It’s not an issue of shortage, it’s an issue of maldistribution,» Dr Bopp said. «That’s critical because a lot of time politicians and health departments have a knee-jerk reaction of ‘there’s a shortage’, but it’s really just people are reluctant to work in some places.» Doctors needed to be supported to stay in rural communities and, in turn, adequate healthcare would keep country towns prosperous, he said. «If the facilities are there and maintained, people can have their care locally and it attracts more people to the area.

It’s a nidus of growth.»